NATO's proposed expansion into the Balkans and eastwards into Ukraine and Georgia is causing tensions between the alliance and Russia and within NATO itself. What exactly is planned and is everything as it seems? When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949, the alliance was based on a system of "collective defense" which meant its member states agreed to mutually defend each other in response to an attack by any external party. For most of the last half of the 20th century, the most likely external party was the Soviet Union. Not long after the signing of the treaty which brought NATO into being, the Cold War intensified and pitched NATO members into a standoff with the Warsaw Pact signatories which lasted over 40 years. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO's primary goal was to contain the threat that was thought to originate from behind its eastern borders. Since the removal of the Soviet threat, NATO's goal in Europe has changed from defending its eastern borders to pushing those boundaries as far east as possible. In 2004, the alliance executed the biggest expansion in its history, to include seven new members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- all formerly part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact.
When the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949, the alliance was based on a system of "collective defense" which meant its member states agreed to mutually defend each other in response to an attack by any external party.
For most of the last half of the 20th century, the most likely external party was the Soviet Union. Not long after the signing of the treaty which brought NATO into being, the Cold War intensified and pitched NATO members into a standoff with the Warsaw Pact signatories which lasted over 40 years. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO's primary goal was to contain the threat that was thought to originate from behind its eastern borders.
Since the removal of the Soviet threat, NATO's goal in Europe has changed from defending its eastern borders to pushing those boundaries as far east as possible. In 2004, the alliance executed the biggest expansion in its history, to include seven new members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia -- all formerly part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs have strongly criticised both Washington and the go-it-alone attitude of several member states for opening bilateral talks on tightened travel security measures in return for visa-free travel. "We express our regret at Washington's choice to enter into bilateral agreements with the recent members of the EU," Italian MEP Claudio Fava, speaking on behalf of the socialists in the European Parliament, said on Wednesday (23 April), describing the move as "completely unacceptable". "The US must respect the union's political unity (...) We should also remind this to member states," Mr Fava added. A similar message was echoed by conservatives, the parliament's biggest group, with Polish MEP Urszula Gacek saying that Washington "cannot exert pressure on individual nations to break EU guidelines, especially in the sensitive areas such as revealing passenger information in greater detail than the EU allows".
After all, the individual states can argue that if each and every other country in the EU bends recommendations and agreements to suit themselves from time to time, why can't they ? So, if we want a united front, we need to unite a bit more. keep to the Fen Causeway
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Wednesday (23 April) called on both Macedonia and Greece to solve a 17-year-old row over the Balkan country's name suggesting that the dispute should no longer be a hindrance to Skopje's attempts to join international organisations, such as the EU. In a report on the country's progress towards the EU in 2007, the deputies called "on both sides to seize the opportunity to immediately resume negotiations in light of the important progress made recently [on the name issue] and in the knowledge that, with the compromise solution within reach, the issue does not continue to represent an obstacle to the Former Republic of Macedonia's membership of international organisations." Athens has been refusing to recognise its neighbour's constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia - since the country declared independence in 1991, considering that it implies territorial claims on a northern Greek province also called Macedonia. Following the ongoing stalemate, Greece earlier this month blocked a NATO invitation to Skopje. It has also indicated that it wants the "name issue" to be resolved before Macedonia is allowed closer to the EU.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As the wave of strikes, protests and riots by millions of the world's poorest citizens in reaction to soaring food prices spreads around the globe, the European Commission is to offer a further €117.25 million in emergency food aid in response to the impact of the increase in food prices on the world's most vulnerable people. Making the announcement in the European Parliament, the commission's development chief, Louis Michel, said: "The rise in basic food prices is a worldwide humanitarian disaster in the making. Ongoing humanitarian food programmes are under enormous pressure with less food available for people already on the brink of starvation." "Millions more, who were just about coping before, now risk going hungry," he added. "Addressing food price issue is a global challenge requiring long-term solutions but the emergency is now. We have an obligation to act - and act quickly." "All analysts say that the era of cheap food is over. We won't see food prices going back down to former levels," he said, pointing out that the aid package was only a partial solution, but not enough to deal with what he called a "structural problem."
What I do have is a sense of impressions, gained largely from the various essays and news items we discuss on a regular basis.
It seems quite obvious to me that we have, in the west, a set of lifestyle expectations that are predicated on cheap energy from hydrocarbons, cheap resources based on contorl of markets and cheap food based on cheap energy and political control of supplier countries. But I cannot prove that, it's an impression.
It also seems to me that our politicians have refused to understand that these "good" times were coming to an end, or if they have, in such a timescale that they can put off electorally difficult decisions till after they've left office. Sadly the "unexpected" arrival of this new reality coupled with this cowardiceoptimism has not only resulted in the end period of the cheap hydrocarbon paradigm being unnecessarily problematic, but which have in some ways made them much worse.
The UK and US have not encouraged green behaviour with sufficient vigour. Indeed the killing of the Shetland wind power scheme demonstrates the chronic levels of denial at government and individual level about what is happening. Yet again, in the S of France, I was chastened by the sight of wind farms on every hilltop, such a contrast to the pathetic NIMBY-ish resistance to any development here.
What the heck are we doing driving everywhere ? Why aren't there railways being built in the UK ? Why is everything backward and in service of the great god car ? We can't pretend we can keep articulated lorries rumbling around 100s and 1000s of pointless miles in defiance of the concept of localism just cos it seemed like a good idea 15 years ago.
And politicians should have taken a lead on this. And they haven't.
But I can't prove any of it. Sorry keep to the Fen Causeway
I just get grumpy at the unsupported assertions of doom that get thrown around.
It seems quite obvious to me that we have, in the west, a set of lifestyle expectations that are predicated on cheap energy from hydrocarbons, cheap resources based on contorl of markets and cheap food based on cheap energy and political control of supplier countries.
However, to return to assertion rather than fact, when fuel doubles in price in 5 years (sorry can I bold that ? An awful lot of people, J, Oil drum etc are talking about fuel prices doubling in FIVE years) that's gonna have a real impact on the way we move things around. Car commuting is gonna become truly problematic in the UK & USA. As DevilsTower states in his/her Big Orange Satan diary Belated Earth Day: The Big Gulp
The answer is conservation. Drive less. Take public transit. Walk. If it's too far to walk, use a bike. If it's too far to bike, and there no public transportation, car pool. If you can't car pool, use a smaller, more efficient vehicle. If you have a long commute, move closer to work. If you can't move closer, take a closer job. If you can't get a different job, see if you can telecommute. It really is that simple. Which of course, doesn't mean it will be easy.
Drive less. Take public transit. Walk. If it's too far to walk, use a bike. If it's too far to bike, and there no public transportation, car pool. If you can't car pool, use a smaller, more efficient vehicle. If you have a long commute, move closer to work. If you can't move closer, take a closer job. If you can't get a different job, see if you can telecommute.
It really is that simple. Which of course, doesn't mean it will be easy.
Damn right. The further down the list, the more those options scream in neon red that our way of life is toast, cos it doesn't just apply to commuting. That's everything.
HGV traffic is going to make the Tesco transportation economic model for food distribution uneconomic. Then how will london and other large cities feed themselves ? The railway capacity to do so simply doesn't exist, the goods yards don't exist and there isn't space to build them cos we built houses and other stuff on them.
And we could have planned to prepare for this. And whilst continental Europe is better placed than UK/US, we're all gonna suffer cos we still have car based economies : That's not economies with cars, that's entire patterns of life and economic opportunity based around the car resulting from half a century of cheap personal transportation. And it's over. That time has gone, it disappeared and we're now in that period of painful adjustment that has been made worse because politicians didn't accept it was coming. Which is my origianl argument
Yes, this is assertion rather than fact and you can frame it as "that's won't, not can't" if you wish. I have never written fact-heavy diaries, I don't have the smarts, the background in reason nor the research kudos to be able to mount the sort of sustained arguments that make Chris Cook or Jerome's essays so compelling. Neither am I gonna start. But if intellectual shortcomings such as mine become a barrier to having an expressed opinion then perhaps you need to say that out loud. I'm sure zoe would be interested as she argued similarly last week. keep to the Fen Causeway
STARY OSKOL, Russia: It was not long after a Methodist church put down roots here that the troubles began. First came visits from agents of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, who evidently saw a threat in a few dozen searching souls who liked to huddle in cramped apartments to read the Bible and, perhaps, drink a little tea. Local officials then labeled the church a "sect." Finally, last month, they shut it down. "Naturally, it will be perceived as propaganda directed at our population," Kotenyov said. " 'What kind of propaganda are you preaching?' " they would ask. 'An American faith?' " "This is how they think: If you are a Russian person, it means that you have to be Russian Orthodox."
First came visits from agents of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, who evidently saw a threat in a few dozen searching souls who liked to huddle in cramped apartments to read the Bible and, perhaps, drink a little tea. Local officials then labeled the church a "sect." Finally, last month, they shut it down.
"Naturally, it will be perceived as propaganda directed at our population," Kotenyov said. " 'What kind of propaganda are you preaching?' " they would ask. 'An American faith?' "
"This is how they think: If you are a Russian person, it means that you have to be Russian Orthodox."
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has decided that Italy's new commissioner should take over the transport portfolio rather than keep the justice and home affairs job. The announcement on late Tuesday (22 April) followed signals from Rome that the current justice chief Franco Frattini is to become his country's new foreign minister in the centre-right cabinet of Silvio Berlusconi. French commissioner Jacques Barrot, previously in charge of transport, is now to take on the high profile justice and security post. Mr Barroso said in a statement that Mr Barrot had substituted for his Italian colleague during Mr Frattini's temporary leave around the election "in an outstanding way".
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European ombudsman is one step closer to gaining full access to information and documents held by EU institutions after MEPs adopted on Tuesday (22 April) a report boosting his powers. "The community institutions and bodies shall be obliged to supply the ombudsman with any information he has requested of them and give him access to the files concerned," reads the European Parliament's report, supported by an overwhelming majority of the lawmakers. It continues by describing the move as crucial to "eliminate any possible uncertainty concerning the capacity of the ombudsman to conduct thorough and impartial inquiries in alleged cases of maladministration". Some 620 MEPs voted in favour of the suggestions, while 18 were against and 18 abstained.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has assured Georgia that the US is firmly committed to supporting the country's sovereignty. Georgia says Russian moves to forge closer ties with two of its breakaway regions threaten its sovereignty. The row between the two neighbours will be discussed at a closed-door session of the UN Security Council. After meeting Georgia's foreign minister, Ms Rice said the US was "very concerned" by Russia's actions. Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision last week to order closer links between Russia and Georgia's two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - prompted outrage in Tbilisi.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has assured Georgia that the US is firmly committed to supporting the country's sovereignty.
Georgia says Russian moves to forge closer ties with two of its breakaway regions threaten its sovereignty.
The row between the two neighbours will be discussed at a closed-door session of the UN Security Council.
After meeting Georgia's foreign minister, Ms Rice said the US was "very concerned" by Russia's actions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision last week to order closer links between Russia and Georgia's two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - prompted outrage in Tbilisi.
